Category Archives: Mountains
Summer Milky Way Rising Airglow and Earthly Lights
Milky Way Rising: Airglow and Earthly Lights
Stellar Tuesday – May 14, 2013.
As previously mentioned the weather here in Summit County, Colorado has been overcast, gray, and snowy for nearly 10 weeks so I was ecstatic to get out and shoot on such a clear night a few days back. In this image we see the Summer Milky Way rising over the Williams Fork Range in the Central Rocky Mountains of Colorado. The lights in the background are coming from nearby mountain towns as well as a soft glow from the city of Denver.
The Reds and Greens are what is known as Airglow. Basically, oxygen particles becomes ionized or excited during the day by sunlight. When they try to return to their normal state, they release visible light and microwaves. This is very similar to the way a glow-in-the-dark sticker works. The Green is about 50 miles high in the atmosphere and the Red is higher. For more on: Airglow.
Other news: Breckenridge Theatre Art Gallery show is in the making full swing and its going to cost me a small fortune so I have added a coupon code: BTAG for any order off shop.danielmcvey.com to save 15%. By purchasing now you can help me finance this project. Your order is much appreciated. Thank You.
Partial Lunar Eclipse Earthsky India Astro Photo Festival
On April 25 and 26 there will be a Partial Lunar Eclipse visible through most of the world save North America. In honor of the event I shared a photo I took of last years Partial Lunar Eclipse here in Summit County, Colorado. Earthsky.Org picked up on it and asked to use it with their article on the event: http://bit.ly/Y0jpTA
Thank You Deborah Byrd and Earthsky.Org for including my photo in your story.
Back in December 2012 there was an Astro Photography festival at the Nehru Planetarium. Atish Aman, event coordinator, contacted me to submit some photos to the event and few were hand selected, printed, and put on display with other Astro Photographers from around the world. This was the first event of its kind in India and I am extremely proud to have had my photography displayed with all the great artists.
There was a holdup on releasing images from the event but they have been released and I wanted to share a few snapshots of the event. Click for the Original Blog Post on the India Astro-Photo Festival.
All Photos © Courtesy of the India Astro-Photo Festival
Partial Lunar Eclipse – Far Right
Milky Way Rising – Far Right
Orion over Gore Range – Center
Stellar Eyes Astrophotography 101 Earthsky Denver Photo Art Gallery Extension
In the middle of International Dark-Sky Week during Global Astronomy Month #GAM2013, Stellar friend Laurel of the Facebook page Stellar Eyes launched www.StellarEyes.Com. The website includes Astronomy news, astro-images for sale as Posters, blogs from the host and other included feature photographers such as yours truly.
I recently started a brand new Blog series for the StellarEyes.Com page entitled Astrophotography 101 which covers many of the basics of Night-Sky Photography. The first part of the series starts off talking about what to look for in camera bodies, lenses, and tripods. The next installment will cover gadgets often used by astro photographers such remote switches vs intervolometers, hot shoe bubbles, and more.
Days after the Page launched its already making an impact. Astronaut: Mike Fossum liked and commented on Laurel’s personal profile about the blog she wrote for International Dark-Sky Week entitled Turn out the Lights and Light Up the Night. He said “Laurel Nendza – Thanks for spreading the word! I prefer the view of the night sky on the left and have been known to drive long distances to enjoy just an hour or so!”
Laurel comments, “I think I fainted but I’m ok now and smiling from ear to ear!” - Great Job Laurel and Best Wishes on the Page. I look forward to more projects!
As mentioned above and in previous blogs, International Dark-Sky Week just passed and it was a huge success. I am already thinking of ideas for next years event. I would like to thank the International Dark-Sky Association for inviting me to help spread the word about the problems with light pollution. The goal: to use exterior lights more responsibly that is also more energy efficient. For more info please go to DarkSky.Org and when purchasing exterior lights, always look for the IDA approved Logo.
Wrapping up International Dark-Sky Week I wanted to mention the photo series from Eartksky.Org in honor of #IDSWeek which included my Dark River of the Milky Way Photo.
My time at the Denver Photo Art Gallery had lapsed so we quickly put together a 6 month extension. I am proud to announce that I will continue to show my Colorado Night Sky Photography at 833 Santa Fe Dr in Denver, Colorado. This is the premier Landscape Photography Gallery in Colorado. Occupying the same space as John Fielder’s Colorado, the gallery features top photographers from Colorado and the world including Kevin Neckers, Russ Shugart, and so many more. Its a real honor and humbling experience to stand with this cast at every First Friday event.
Plans for the Breckenridge Theatre Art Gallery show are beginning to develop. This show will open Second Saturday – July 13 from 4-6pm w/ refreshments. More details to follow. 
Recently, Stellar Friend Holly of Mtn Town Magazine shared my Gore Range Monochrome Series on Twitter which happened to catch the eye of Frank Korver who does all about Nature Photography from Switzerland who gave me a sweet backlink from the Leisure section of his publication. Thank You, Frank and Holly!
Stellar Tuesday Global Astronomy Month Landscape Photography Magazine Gore Range Monochrome Series
(Early) Spring Time in the Rockies
Stellar Tuesday Astro Image: (Early) Spring Time in the Rockies: Winter Constellations in the West shortly after sunset as the snow recedes from the valley floor.
I am sure by now you are aware that I have been working with International Dark-Sky Association to bring you Dark Sky week from April 5 – 11 but did you know the entire month of April is Global Astronomy Month? I was fortunate enough to have a small contribution of photographer by pairing up with writer Larry Sessions of North American Skies to bring you the article Globe at Night and Online Classes for Astronomers without Borders. Check the article to see “Wildernest Reflection”.
: My Harvest Moon 2012 photo is currently in Issue #26 in the Inspirations section of the Magazine and it provided me with the gift of a brand new camera bag. This is amazing cause I have been putting off getting a new bag for months now. Thank You Landscape Photography Magazine and Fstopgear.Com
The Website has been updated not only with the new ecommerce page: Shop.DanielMcVey.Com
but also with the Gore Range Monochrome Series slideshow. Please take a minute and check the slideshow out which includes sepia toned photos of Summit County’s Gore Range thoughout the year day and night. I ran the series on Facebook and was met with a lot of positive remarks so I brought in slideshow fashion to the webpage.
Don’t forget that April 5 is First Friday at the Denver Photo Art Gallery.
Comet Pan-STARRS Summit County Citizens Voice Colorado
Pan-STARRS over Middle Park – Click image for Article on event by Summit County Citizens Voice w/ unseen images.
Capturing Comet Pan-STARRS here in Summit County, Colorado has been a difficult process with many failed attempts before I even saw the comet. Since the comet appears so low on the horizon, finding a vantage point while surrounded by peaks towering 12,000 ft plus proved to be a challenge. Mix that in with overcast nights I was growing frustrated but trying to keep patient. One partly cloudy night I hiked in to my spot only to find clouds forming in the worst possible place and since I was on foot no chance of realigning my angle of view.
The evening I captured my only series to date of PanSTARRS I was unsure what I would get cause I had cloud building in about the area I was expecting to see this cosmic wonder. Im not sure why this happens but sometimes when the temps drop after sunset, clouds seem to vaporize. I was hanging on to this thought as I did my last chance to view the comet but this time it paid off.
Comet in a Nose Dive. Click for Larger Image
The first frame I caught of the comet, I leaped for joy and then started to work vigorously. From the time I saw the comet, I knew I had a short time before it dipped behind the horizon.
Big Thank You to Bob Berwyn of the Summit County Citizens Voice who is a huge supporter of my photography. Bob was kind enough to put together an Article on Comet Pan-STARRS over Summit County, Colorado utilizing my photos and making sense of my wild ramblings sent via email.
Winter Circle Huffington Post and Space.Com
Winter Milky Way with Winter Circle (Capella, Aldebaran, Rigel, Sirius, Procyon, and Castor) Jupiter, and the Pleiades.
Recently I was lucky enough to have my Winter Highlights (pictured above) run in the Huffington Post UK “Image of the Week” – where my photo was next to one of Kate Middleton! – and it was voted as the Fan Favorite!
This same picture ran on Space.Com under the category “Amazing Night Sky Photos” for the month of March. Big Thank You to both for sharing.
If all this sounds familiar but in abbreviated fashion its because these were Lost Blogs in the Great Website Crash of 2013. Thank God, that the rest of the page was recovered by my host: Blue Host. Thank You!
Thanks to Stellar friend, Kim Klodnicki, I now have a Instagram page. Please check it out and if you are an Instagram user, send a friend request!
Winter Circle and Milky Way over Gore Range Summit County Colorado
Submission for Astronomy Photograph of the Day (APOD)
Winter Milky Way with Winter Circle ( Capella, Aldebaran, Rigel, Sirius, Procyon, and Castor) Aldebaran (Taurus) Jupiter, and the Pleiades over the Gore Range in Summit County, Colorado.
Use the Scroll Bar on the bottom of the Page to navigate through the Panoramic.
Winter Triangle Astronomy Image
Stellar Tuesday: 3/5/13
Winter Triangle over Summit County, Colorado
This weeks Stellar Tuesday image brings us the Winter Triangle which includes Betelgeuse and both Dog Stars: Procyon and Sirius. This shot was made possible by the low angled light of the Full Moon illuminating the snow covered trees in dramatic fashion. Also visible in this this shot: Orion with his dogs.
Sirius and Orion over Gore Range Colorado APOD
Sirius and Orion over the Gore Range: Summit County, Colorado
Originally photographed in the Spring of 2012 this image of Sirius and Orion over the Gore Range is one my favorites. The glow from behind the mountains is coming from the Eagle / Vail area. The light reflecting down from the clouds then scattered by the snow helped to bring out foreground detail along with some post processing in Lightroom 4.0 .
First Friday Art Walk March 1 2013
Come down to the Denver Photo Art Gallery (833 Santa Fe – Denver, CO) from 6 – 9+PM where I will be hosting my Photo Gallery. BYOB, come chat, take in the gallery including several other amazing photographers (many of whom will also be there), or just plain get out of the house!
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